Book 2- The Living Stone
by Agang11
Summary: A hungry stone falls from the air as time, once more, begins to fly. Secrets kept. A tribute found. It's not just The Doctor that lies.
1. Chapter 1

_**House Call**_

It was around midnight at 13 Paternoster Row, and the Great Detective was, for the first time ever, stumped. She had gone through all possibilities of what could be going on in Epping Forest. "It makes no sense!" She exclaimed, clearing everything from her desk in fury. She put her head on the table. "_How? _How could this be happening?" She heard someone enter. Her tongue told her it was her butler. "Unless you have an answer to this case, please leave me alone!" She said impatiently.

"You let your wife in here even though _she_ had no solution!"

"Yes, but that was for… different reasons."

"Please, do not feel like you need to elaborate on that. You two already confuse me in enough ways. I don't need to be thinking about that. Anyway, I may have a solution to your problem."

The Great Detective stood and paced about the room. "What do you suggest I do?"

"Simple. Make a phone call."

"To whom? If I can't solve this case, then who can?"

"Yes. I'm sure he can."

"What do you-?" Realizing what Strax was saying, she smiled. "Make the call." The butler exited the room to do that. The Great Detective stared out the window, waiting. One second. Two seconds. Three seconds. He never took more than five to arrive. Four seconds. "Come on. Where are you?"

Then she heard it. That familiar whooshing sound as a big, blue box appeared across the street. The Great Detective called for her butler and wife to join her outside as the box finished materializing. An unfamiliar face popped out of the doors. That was normal of course. "You're half a second late, old friend." The Great Detective taunted. Her friend ignored the statement.

"Hello there Vastra, Jenny, Strax." The Doctor said in his usual jovial voice. "You ordered a house call?"


	2. Chapter 2

_**Stone Cold**_

(1,000 years later)

"This is the life." Terry was a bit wary of the idea of shooting through space in a phone booth at first, but then her brother took her to Planet Miami. Now she was lounging back on the beach, occasionally checking if she was close to burning with her new Sonic Screwdriver. She was really starting to love that thing. It had seemed useless at first, but now she was using it almost all the time!

Planet Miami was great! It was always the perfect temperature, the water was nice and relaxing, and there were tons of super cute alien boys. Sure, she didn't understand anything they said, but Terry still loved them. Alex ran up to her.

"Hey, Terry," Alex panted, "we have to go… Yes, I get that we need to hurry, but come on! We can arrive at any time we want... Look, just shut up, okay!" This would look strange to others, but Terry knew what was going on. Alex had spent almost the entire week they had been staying on Planet Miami talking like this with the new voice in his head: an alien named The Doctor.

"What's going on?" Terry asked as she shut the door to the TARDIS, her and Alex's time traveling phone booth, behind her.

"One of The Doctor's old friends contacted me just now. We need to go to Victorian London." He began flipping switches and turning knobs until they heard the familiar whooshing noise that meant they were leaving Planet Miami.

**…**

It was around 1:00 AM in Victorian London, and Terry was freezing. It was mid-November right now and she was still dressed for the beach. Alex and the lizard-woman named Vastra were talking about the problem at hand in Vastra's study. A rather stubby man, who looked like a walking potato came in with tea. "Thank you Strax." Said Jenny, the only human there besides Terry.

Strax exited the room to help Vastra and Alex. "So, are you and Strax married?"

Jenny burst into a fit of giggles. "Don't think I can't hear you." A rather insulted Strax called from the study.

Jenny calmed herself down. "Sorry, but no. We aren't a couple. Although, I am married."

Terry thought for a moment about this. "Oh. Oh, so you and… Well, congratulations I suppose."

"It is a bit strange, I know. But Vastra and I are quite happy together, and not many people mind it. Of course, that's mainly because my wife can eat them." They both enjoyed a laugh at that.

Vastra and Alex came out of the study. "So, who's up for a field trip?" Alex asked excitedly.

"Where to?"

"Epping Forest. We're gonna go look at a big rock. Fun, huh?" Oddly, he sounded like he really believed it would be.

…

They arrived in the forest and had to hike for 20 minutes to get to the big rock. And it was big! It sat in a large, smoldering crater with ashes all along the edge of it. The strange part was that the ashes were spread out in certain spots around the rock as well. The rock itself was large, lumpy, and light grey. "Is that a meteor?" Terry asked.

"I certainly hope so." Alex said excitedly. "A meteor would go great in my rock collection."

"Since when do you have a rock collection?"

"I'm thinking of starting one. Think I can cut a piece off?" He asked Vastra.

Vastra ignored him. "This meteor has been here for about three days now. And, since then, the trees around here have been vanishing. And what's stranger is that the trees that vanished now form a shape in the spots they vanished from."

"What do you mean?" Terry asked.

"The spots where the trees once were now form the shape of a spiral in the forest."

Alex bolted upright. "A spiral?.. Yes, I think you may be right… Right. We should probably do some scanning."

Jenny whispered to Terry, "Um, who's he talking to?"

"The Doctor."

"I thought he was The Doctor."

"It's a long story."

Alex took one last look at the meteor then turned to Vastra. "We need to go back to the TARDIS to do some quick scans. The rest of you, stay here. Vastra and I will be back in a jiff." They ran back to where Alex had parked the TARDIS.

Terry pulled out the Sonic and tried scanning the rock. She checked the results and gasped. "Everyone run!"

"What? Why?" Asked Strax.

Terry turned and took off, followed by the others. "Just run. Don't look-" She screamed as an intense pain exploded through her body. She looked down at her hand and saw it starting to wither. She felt her whole body age. The Sonic fell from her hand. "Alex… Help…" She managed to rasp as her body crumbled away into ash.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Control**_

Alex and Vastra were wandering through the forest when they heard the screams. "Terry!" Alex turned and raced back towards the asteroid. "Doctor, what do you think is going on?" _I've heard screams like that before. And I know… _They reached the asteroid to find nobody around, but three more piles of ash scattered around it. In one of them sat Terry's Sonic Screwdriver. _-it's already too late._

Alex ran up to the ash pile holding the Screwdriver. He fell to his knees and held it in his hands. Vastra put her hand on his shoulder. "They can still be saved, old friend."

"How?" Alex muttered sadly. "How do you save someone who's already dead?" They were silent for a few minutes. _Point and click,_ The Doctor finally said. "Point and click?"_ The Sonic. Scan the asteroid with it. Just point and click._ Alex did as he said. He aimed the Sonic at the asteroid and pressed the button. The end lit up and made a whirring sound. "What is it saying?" The Doctor said nothing. "Doctor? What's it saying?" _Run._ "What?" _Run. Don't turn around. Run backwards so it can't surprise you. Keep looking at the asteroid and run away._

"Alex, what is The Doctor telling you?" Vastra asked. Alex wasn't looking at her, though. He could have sworn he saw the asteroid move.

"Vastra," he said slowly, "look at the-"

Suddenly and swiftly a tendril grew and stretched out of the asteroid. It touched Vastra on her back. Vastra screamed in pain and started visibly aging rapidly. "Doctor, what's happening?" She yelled as her scales began to fall off as she aged.

Alex took the Continuum Blade off of his waist and the blade grew out of the handle. "Hang on, Vastra! I'll-" It was too late. Vastra's body crumbled away to ash. The asteroid made a gurgling sound and grew slightly bigger, feeding off of Vastra. "Vastra! No!" The tendril turned on Alex and lunged at him. Alex slashed it away with the blade. The rock made a small hissing noise.

"Doctor, what's going on?!" _The asteroid is an alien being known as a Petrimite. It's a cousin of the Weeping Angels that is made of living stone. It feeds off the youth of other creatures by touching them and draining it from them. _A second tendril grew out of the Petrimite and attacked Alex as well as the first. Alex knocked both of them away. "How do we stop it?" _Touch it._ "What?! I'm not touching it! You saw what happened to Vastra!" _Alex, don't be afraid, and just touch it!_ "No!" _Then you leave me no choice._

Alex's right leg took a large step towards the rock. "Doctor, what are you doing?!" _I'm controlling your motor functions. If you won't move, then I will for you._ Alex continued walking towards the Petrimite. "Doctor, stop it!" _No. _"Doctor!"_ Alex, you have to do this!_ "Stop!" The Doctor threw Alex on top of the Petrimite. It felt as if millions of volts of electricity were coursing through Alex's body. He screamed in pain as the Petrimite drained his youth. Alex looked at his hand and noticed that he wasn't visibly aging though. The Petrimite grew larger and larger as it continued feeding. It grew to nearly twice it's size, then three times, and it just kept growing. Large bubbles formed on it's skin as if something was pounding to get out. _She's gonna blow!_ Alex was thrown backwards by the force of the Petrimite's destruction. Chunks of rock flew around as shrapnel.

Alex sat up, his entire body aching. He looked at where the Petrimite had been and saw a large cluster of trees where it had been. All the trees it had absorbed where now standing where the Petrimite had blown up. And if that was true…

"Terry? Vastra? Strax? Jenny?"

"We're in here!" Alex nearly started crying when he heard his sister's voice. The four of them walked out of the tree cluster into the open.

"Oh, thank God, you're alright!" Alex ran up to his sister and friends and hugged them all.

**…**

After that whole ordeal, Vastra was kind enough to ask Alex and Terry to rest up at her house. "So, sis, how'd it feel to die and come back to life?"

Terry punched him in the arm. "Don't think I owe you anything for saving me." She said while smiling ear-to-ear.

"I know you'd have done the same for me."

At that point, Vastra walked into the room. "Well, after that ordeal, I think we could all use a snack. Terry, would you care for a pumpkin scone?"

Alex noticed Terry slightly stiffen. She looked up at Vastra and replied, "Yes, I would love one."

"Come with me then." Terry got up and followed Vastra to the kitchen.

Alex sat there in silence for a few moments then decided to ask what was on his mind. "Doctor, why didn't I age when that thing was draining my youth?" _You are now part Time Lord, Alex. You don't age like most humans do anymore._ Alex accepted this. He knew there were a lot more surprises left in store with the madman in his head. The thing that worried him was how The Doctor could control his body. If he could control Alex's motor functions like that, what else could he control?

Terry and Vastra returned. Terry was munching on a pumpkin scone. "Well, I suppose you two should probably get going. But, before you do…" Vastra walked into her study and came back with a book entitled _Legends of Rome._ "-please take this with you. For entertainment." She handed the book to Terry.

After that, Alex and Terry got back in the TARDIS and took off. "So, where to now?" Alex asked. "Wanna head back to Planet Miami?"

Terry looked at the book in her hands. "Actually, how about we go to ancient Rome. That seems like it would be interesting."

Alex flipped a lever and the TARDIS shook violently. "Rome it is then!" And with that, they were off on another adventure.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Lies**_

The Great Detective's carriage traveled slowly up Elbury Street towards it's destination. "You can stop right here." She told the driver. The carriage stopped and Vastra exited, walking the rest of the journey towards the Beast's Cave Pub. "Hello, Ulysses," she said to the big man outside, "how's your wife?"

"She doin' alright." He responded in a thick Cockney accent. "Now, I'll need to see identification, miss." Vastra sighed and showed Ulysses her hand. "Intellego." And the symbol appeared on her hand. "Please enter, Madame Vastra."

"Thank you Ulysses." Vastra walked in, and immediately the roudy customers went silent. "My dear brothers and sisters," Vastra announced, "the mission has been completed."

One man spoke up. "The tribute has been planted in the right spot?"

"And the code-phrase set in her mind?" Said another.

"Of course." Vastra replied. "The Spiral, dear friends, is descending as planned, and, soon, our greatest enemy will be snuffed out like the candle in the wind he is."

Vastra slowly raised her hand, and the others followed suit. The symbols appeared on their hands. A small spiral in red ink. They began chanting. "Hail the Spiral. Hail the Spiral! **Hail the Spiral! _Hail the Spiral! __Death to The Doctor!_**"


End file.
